MAKING CONSTITUTIONS, BUILDING PARLIAMENTS
Constructing representative institutions, 1000-2000

The annual conference of the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions, King’s College, London, Royal Holloway, London, and Portcullis House, Palace of Westminster

London 30th June – 4th July 2015

Sponsored by The History of Parliament Trust, with support from the UK Parliament, King’s College and Royal Holloway, University of London

The year 2015 marks two anniversaries of enormous significance in the history of English, and British constitutional and legal history: the 800th anniversary of King John’s acceptance of Magna Carta, the great charter of liberties of the English nation in 1215; and the 750th anniversary of the Parliament summoned by Simon de Montfort in 1265, following his defeat of King Henry III in a civil war which was the culmination of a baronial revolt. Magna Carta is still widely seen as a starting point in the history of English freedom, cited worldwide in the defence of human rights. Many authorities have seen the 1265 Parliament as the origin of the English Parliament (the 700th anniversary was celebrated in Parliament in 1965 with an exhibition and an address from both Houses of Parliament to the Queen): although that view is no longer generally held, 1265 is still regarded as a key moment in the history of the evolution of Parliament.

To mark these anniversaries, the History of Parliament Trust will in 2015 host the annual conference of the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions (ICHRPI). The conference will take 1215 and 1265 as a starting point for an exploration of the initiation and development of political institutions from the early Middle Ages onwards, and an assessment of their role in state formation or national building. It will consider the significance of foundational documents and events such as Magna Carta and the de Montfort Parliament and how these – and the historiography of Parliaments – became so important in the subsequent history of Parliament and political institutions – how, for example, Magna Carta and the de Montfort Parliament were built up and depicted as central events in the building of the English state.

The conference will have a strong comparative element, and will incorporate contributions from continental scholars and scholars of continental traditions. It will compare the foundation of the English and British constitutional tradition with other those in other jurisdictions elsewhere: it will explore other confrontations between communal traditions and royal powers and how these were expressed and resolved. It will seek to compare the development of the English political tradition with contemporary parallel institutions in Europe, and explore their divergence and/or convergence.

The conference will be held in the languages of the Commission: English, French, Spanish and German.  The themes of the conference are stated below. This is an advance notice: a more formal call for papers will be issued in the New Year. However, we would be delighted if you wish to contact us now to register an interest in either speaking at or attending the conference. Please contact Paul Seaward (pseaward@histparl.ac.uk) or Emma Peplow (epeplow@histparl.ac.uk).

Making Constitutions

• The development of ideas of law, representative institutions and constitutionalism in the Middle Ages
• The construction, importance, use and mythical status of foundational constitutional documents
• The global reach and influence of the English model of Parliaments and constitutionalism

Building Parliaments

• The construction and development of  Parliaments from Europe in the Middle Ages onwards
• Parliaments and their role in state formation and state building in all states and periods
• The history and historiography of Parliaments, and their place in political culture

Studying Parliaments

• Round tables on various approaches to parliamentary history: oral history, prosopography and collective biography and digitised parliamentary sources.